1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal sanitary products and methods for fabricating same.
2. The Prior Art
In a time of raised ecological awareness, consumers are turning away from products that had been introduced in disposable formats, and are returning to renewable or reusable forms of these same products.
This principle holds true for personal sanitary products, such as are used for babies and adults with continence issues. Before the advent of disposable sanitary products, simple cloth diapers were commonly used. These, of course, became soggy or soiled quickly and required constant monitoring and changing, and subsequent laundering. The addition of rubberized or otherwise water-resistant or waterproofed outer garments alleviated some of the need for constant changing, but only partly.
The introduction of disposable sanitary garments of various configurations eliminated the need for laundering, and, depending upon the complexity of the construction of the particular sanitary garment product, some of the need for constant monitoring or changing. Some sanitary garment products even contained externally visible (upon wetting) indicia to provide evidence of the need for changing of the sanitary garment.
However, such disposable sanitary products, which are sold and used in prodigious quantities by the consuming public, use up vast quantities of “virgin” resources, including non-renewable petroleum-based resources. These disposable sanitary products, in turn, upon their use, must be disposed of, typically using up ever more limited landfill space.
As the consuming public becomes more ecologically aware, however, it seeks to turn away from disposable products, and instead turns toward products produced from renewable or at least more sustainable resources.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a personal sanitary product which is capable of being fabricated using renewable or sustainable resources which nonetheless is convenient to use, and performs well.